Greece and Italy came into this A-Final as the winners of their respective semifinals, with Italy qualifying with the fastest qualifying time.

Italy jumped out of the starting blocks, leaving the remainder of the crews behind. With one quarter of the race gone, Greece was in close contact with Italy in second. Turkey followed in third. There was almost nothing separating the second and third boats – just two tenths of a second.

Staying in touch with Italy from the start, Greece, the youngest crew in this race, dug in and found the power to challenge the initial leaders, passing them in the second quarter. But Italy would not be content with second and challenged back in the third quarter, reclaimed the lead and increased that lead with every stroke. Turkey was still in third, nearly level with Greece at the 1500m mark.

Italy had done enough to secure their first position, while Turkey and Greece battled it out between silver and bronze in the final stretch. At the line, it was Turkey who reaped the reward of their final big push and won silver. Greece took bronze.

Results: ITA, TUR, GRE, USA, GBR, NED

Lorenzo Gerosa (b) – ITA – gold

“We are very young and we met only two weeks ago. But we are sure that we row really well together. Here we gave our best and that is the result. We are very happy.“

Mert Kaan Kartal (b) – TUR – silver

“It’s my first medal at the under 23 and this one means more than the bronze medal in the eight in Amsterdam last year. It was my dream to beat the guys that are the same age as me.”

Ioannis Petrou (b) – GRE – bronze

“It was a very difficult race and very close. Our best was the middle part and we are proud to get a medal.”

B - Final

One crew withdrew from this race, Canada, making the B-Final in the lightweight men’s pair a five-boat race. In lane three Australia put on steam as soon as the light turned green. Germany stayed in close contact throughout the race, while Japan followed the two leaders further back in third. With 250m to go, the powerful Germans inched ahead of Australia. In a tight battle to the line Australia fought back, and reclaimed the lead, crossing the line first.